LOS ANGELES — When Ana Hernandez makes food for her customers, she’s not just going through the motions.
“You are putting whatever your emotion is into your food,” she said.
In her dishes, you can practically taste the passion. Hernandez learned how to cook at a young age out of necessity.
“Little by little, I just started liking being in the kitchen because my parents, both of the would work, so I was the one in charge of the dinner,” she said.
Four years ago, Hernandez started Dollies Kitchen out of her home in Los Angeles, making meals for clients all over Southern California. They range from steak and eggs to chilaquiles to taquitos.
Hernandez does all the cooking and cleaning and makes about 45 to 65 meals a week, in addition to raising her son. She delivers meals by hand and advertises mostly on social media.
Her dream is to one day own a restaurant, but Hernandez said for her a brick and mortar is currently out of reach.
“The cheapest rent that you’ll find is like $7,000 a month and then you have to have the first and the last and then you have to have security,” she said.
For now, she is part of an informal economy called Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations, or MEHKOs, where chefs sell food made in their house. They were legalized in California in 2019, but cities and counties have full discretion to set up a permit and inspection process. Riverside County launched its MEHKO program in 2019 and Los Angeles County plans to do the same on Nov. 1 after passing an ordinance in mid-May. The LA County Board of Supervisors approved a process in which home chefs and sidewalk vendors must pay an application and health fee so they can cook safe and regulated food.
The ordinance sets a cap of 30 meals per day or 90 meals per week and $100,000 in gross annual sales. Applicants can also get a permit to serve as a kitchen for up to two food carts and those will be limited to 80 meals per day, 200 meals per week and $150,000 in gross annual sales.
“Los Angeles becomes the largest jurisdiction to legalize this form of entrepreneurship and it is really opening up the door for so many people that have been doing this informally, in the shadows, to come out and be able to proudly sell their food and share their culture,” said Roya Bagheri, executive director of the COOK Alliance, an advocacy group that supports informal home cooking businesses.
Bagheri said the cost of entering the food industry is a major barrier for cooks just starting out.
“The average cost of a brick and mortar is upwards of $400,000. Even a food truck or a commercial kitchen, you are looking at start-up costs and rent and such of over $50,000 per year,” she said.
She said the COOK Alliance also offers a free online training course for home cooks and street vendors looking to jumpstart their business.
Hernandez said she is ready to apply for the LA County permit and can’t wait for more people to enjoy her food.
“It makes me so happy,” she said. “Like it makes me so proud of myself because it’s like, yeah, I did that.”